


Scrapes and Scuffles

by FeistyAmoeba



Series: A Willuz and Willumity beta AU [3]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Brief Violence, F/F, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Pre-poly to poly, Swearing, Teen Romance, These girls are soft for each other, Willumity, beta au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28344939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeistyAmoeba/pseuds/FeistyAmoeba
Summary: Being a human trying to learn magic takes a stupid amount of research. Finally, after months of pouring over dusty tomes with her disgruntled mentor, Luz has caught a hint of another ancient magic site. She knows just the witches she wants to drag along with her.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda/Willow Park, Amity Blight/Willow Park, Luz Noceda/Willow Park
Series: A Willuz and Willumity beta AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044153
Comments: 20
Kudos: 167





	1. Something of a Plan

Willow contemplates throwing her alarm clock against the wall as it shrills next to her but knows that her dads would be upset if she broke _another_ thing. She sighs before tapping the angry machine. Quiet permeates the room as she finally swings her legs out of bed to start the day.

After performing her usual bathroom routine, she’s left staring at the clothes in her closet as if she was going to make an actual fashion choice (she wasn’t). Vaguely she can overhear her one of her dads, Jason, saying “Love you dear, see you after work.” to her Pops right before he yells to her, “Willow, love you! Remember to get to school on time!”

The teenager couldn’t help rolling her eyes even though he couldn’t see her. “I’m seventeen, I’ll be fine…” she grumbles to herself, before yelling down a return “Love you too!”

She finally changes out of her pajamas, pulling on dark jeans and a light gray long-sleeve before donning her usual yellow jacket. She finally picks up her phone from her desk and notices messages from Luz and the group chat.

Luz’s message was a simple ‘ _Goodnight Willow <3’_, which she must have missed last night, but left her smiling nonetheless. In the group chat Gus had sent a message saying ‘ _Guys, meet me at my locker in the morning! I’ve got something you show you ;)’_ . Which left Willow wondering what the younger boy had gotten into this time.

Willow finally makes her way out of her room and heads down to the kitchen, passing by her Pops who is sitting at the table deep in a book. While her other dad had gone off to work, it seems like her Pops, Oren, had busied himself with breakfast, judging by the crumbs lingering in his beard. She grabs some cereal and an apple for breakfast and eats them quickly to avoid any morning chit-chat with him.

When she finally gets up to grab her car keys, he looks up at her and smiles. “Good morning, my little sprig. Hope you have a nice day at school.” He says in a soft tone. 

“Thanks. I’ll try, but you know how school is.” She answers, and he chuckles in response.

She grabs her bag and heads outside. She shivers for a moment as she gets into her car before turning it on and heading out.

* * *

The school halls are brimming with the usual morning ruckus by the time Willow is making her way to Gus’s locker to meet up for his ‘surprise’.

She spots the group standing down the hallway and gives them a glance over.

Luz is dressed in jeans and a red shirt that matches her usual beanie; She’s still wearing that oversized drab green jacket of hers. The girl looks half-dead with the way she fights to keep her eyes open and her open yawns show off her teeth.

By her side there was Amity, who is not looking much better. Willow notes the bags under her eyes. For once Amity’s actually wearing a jacket of her own – a black leather jacket, which only added to the punk-ish look of the piercing-riddled teen. Besides the jacket she wore a pink shirt with the words “Don’t care” printed boldly on the front, paired with black leggings. Her hand is clutching onto one of those blended coffee drinks that definitely could rot your teeth out. 

Gus, the boy of the hour, once again seems to have the morning pep that everyone else was lacking. He was wearing a dark blue Hexside hoodie and for whatever reason was wearing the hood up. The younger teen was practically bouncing in his excitement while the girls eyed him wearily.

Once she reached the group, she greets them with a simple “Hello” and a wave of her hand.

Immediately Luz straightens up and suddenly seems energetic. “Willow!” She nearly pounces on the shorter girl, wrapping her up in a strong hug, sneaking in a kiss to the top her head. Willow grips her girlfriend in return as the girl bends down further to rest her head on her shoulder, gently rocking her.

For a moment, Willow’s eyes catch Amity’s, who looks away quickly. She acts uninterested as she slurps at her drink, but her posture is stiff.

Willow finally pats Luz on back, “C’mon, that’s enough of that. Let’s see what Gus thought was important enough to get us all here” and Luz pulls away looking only mildly pouty.

The boy slaps his hands together with enough force to make them, and several other students, jump. He squeaked out a “Sorry!” before he cleared his throat and continued on.

“I have gathered you all here today for something important...something that I’ve been trying to get my dad to agree to for ageeeees, and finally got him to say yes to!”

The girls all glanced at each other, wonder what the hell this guy was going on about.

“It’s time…for the big reveal!” He gripped his hood and twirls dramatically, before pulling it down with a “TA-DA!”

There, on his ears – new, shiny black stud earrings.

Willow had to bring her hand up to her face to hide her smile at his dramatics but spared him a “Nice!”. Meanwhile, Amity had given him a sleepy thumbs-up of approval while nursing her drink, and Luz had a hand under her chin as she peered more closely at his earrings.

“Is this what happens when we leave you alone with Amity for too long?” Luz hummed.

Amity poked her tongue out in response - a glint of metal showing - which only proved Luz’s point.

Gus puffed up, indignant. “No! I just think they’re cool – and the rest of you have earrings too!”

Luz chucked and reached over to ruffle the boy’s hair. “Relax, man. They look good – maybe when they are all healed up we’ll get you like, some skulls or something –“

“Okay, Luz, we can’t turn him into some kind of emo prince.” Amity spoke up, oddly stern.

Luz turns to face her directly, “That’s a lot coming from you, miss Blight” and gives her a smirking grin.

“Not in the mood, _Noceda_ ”

Willow heard the warning in her voice and did not want to deal with these two bickering so early in the day, _again_ , as had been happening more and more often in the last few weeks.

She raises a finger, “Guys, don’t start” and one of them huffs as she continues, “Spare me some peace and quiet this morning? It’s way too early to deal with your shit.“

The girls at least have the decency to look guilty. Luz has shoved her hands into her pockets and is lightly rocking on her heels. Amity is looking anywhere that isn’t Luz or Willow, feigning interest in a rather scuffed floor tile. Gus looks between them with an arched brow, surely wondering what sort of ‘girl drama’ he is missing out on.

 _Gus, be glad that you’re not in on this._ She couldn’t help thinking to herself.

“Well, now that whatever THAT was is over…I’m glad you guys approve! Getting my dad to take me to get these done was some serious work. I have…way too many chores to do now.” He looks downtrodden for a moment, before perking up again. “I’ve got to get to class, but we should hangout later this week!” Then he’s off on a run with a wave of his hand.

Amity shifts on her feet and pulls her phone out of her bag. “Yeah, it’s almost time for first class. See ya.” She throws a lazy peace sign and walks away, leaving just Luz and Willow standing next to the lockers.

“You’re still coming over tonight, yeah?”

“Yeah! Actually, I have something I want to show you tonight- something super awesome!” She says, waving her hands in emphasis.

Willow eyes her for a moment. “Did you get a secret new piercing too?”

“No!!!” and Willow doesn’t hide her smug smile as Luz’s face darkens and the girl falters in her flustered state.

“Relax, Luz. As fun as it is to watch you shut down, we do have class.” Willow gives her a moment to recover, then pulls her in for a hug, which the taller girl returns eagerly. They pull apart, Luz flashing her finger guns, and head off to separate classrooms.

* * *

Sometime later, Willow pulls into her driveway.

“Let me finish this song before we go in!”

Luz bounces energetically in the passenger seat as she finishes the 5th replay of that catchy pop song that was her current favorite. At first Willow had found it strange, but at this point she knew it was just one of those Luz things; She appreciated her girlfriend’s mannerisms, even if they were often at odds with Willow’s more stoic nature.

After the music finishes the two headed inside, with Luz stumbling slightly on her feet as she hurriedly pulls each of her shoes off in the entranceway, placing them gently by the doorway before she bounds away deeper into the house.

Willow repeats the motion with more grace, before she goes to see where her girlfriend had disappeared off to.

As it turns out, she hadn’t gone very far when she spots the teen in the living room. She’s crouching in front of the couch, brown eyes locked intensely onto the green eyes of an orange puffball.

“Luz…you’re never going to win a staring contest against Pumpkin.” 

“I will…someday…can’t show any weakness…” One of Luz’s eyes twitched.

There was a sudden _bang_ from the kitchen and Luz jumped then groans as she realizes her loss to the cat, who she swore was looking smug at her from her cushion perch.

Jason popped his head out of the kitchen, holding a towel that he was using to clean sauce off his glasses.

“Oh, I heard you come home! Sorry about that, dropped a pan. Nice to see you again Luz, hope you’re looking forward to dinner.”

At this moment, Oren appears from the kitchen too, brandishing a metal spatula in one hand while he wipes his other on his apron.

“Looks like it’s going to be a little while girls, we’re going to need to re-do the sauce.”

“Fine, we’re just going to go up to my room while we wait.” Willow answers.

“As long as you remember to the follow the rules!” He responds sternly, pointing his spatula directly at Luz.

Luz immediately stood up straight and answered, “O-of course, sir!” while rubbing her neck.

Willow felt sympathetic to her girlfriend’s plight. It had been about two weeks now since she had informed her dads that her and Luz were dating, and the men had taken it upon themselves to go into full ‘papa bear’ mode. They had given Luz a rather terrifying speech about ‘doing no wrongs to their baby girl’ and that witches could be ‘very creative in their methods’ when needed. Willow had found it all very mortifying, but the sight of the girl being lectured by two shorter men was at least very amusing. After the ‘ground rules’ had been established, the men had slightly lightened up on her, but it was still fresh in everyone’s minds.

She decided to spare her by grabbing her by her backpack and tugging her along to her bedroom. As they entered, she gently closed the door until it was barely cracked open – just enough to keep her dads happy.

The glasses-wearing girl stalks up to Luz, who just blinks at her, before she grabs the front of her red shirt to pull her down. Luz gets the hint as she bends further to press her lips against her own, wrapping herself around the other girl.

Willow was not into public displays of affection like Luz was, but this. This was always nice. She smiles against the slightly chapped lips that are pressing against hers, moving her hand to knead against Luz’s shoulder for moment before pulling away.

The dreamy look on Luz’s face after their kisses always added to her enjoyment. Her silly dork. Still on cloud nine even after the two had been dating for over two months now.

“Homework first?” She asked.

Luz snapped out of her daze. “Hell no! Let’s relax first.”

Unsurprisingly, Luz’s idea of relaxing was to snuggle against her girlfriend in her small-ish bed after they had dropped their bags. Willow laid back against her pillows, one hand holding a copy of _Poisonous Plants of North America_ , while the other was being held captive by Luz’s larger fist. Said girl was curled up against her side, pressing her face into her middle, while the girl was humming some tune to herself which Willow thinks sounds suspiciously like the pop song she had on earlier.

She looks away from her book and glances down at their joined hands. She loosens her grip to ghost her thumb along the dark skin, tracing along some scars that grace the back of the other teen’s hand. She shifts again to rub against the lighter skin of Luz’s palm, enjoying all its warmth and callouses.

Luz lifts her head up from Willow’s stomach to peer up at her. Willow can feel her shaking slightly, probably restless from sitting still for too long. Apparently the girl had decided it was time for some small talk.

“You know, I’ve always found it funny that you’re almost a little clone of Jason.”

Willow chuckles as she closes her book and tosses it away. “Yeah, I think Pops was always a little grumpy that I look just like Dad, but Dad said it was just compensation for having to deal with those 9 months of ‘pregnancy hell’. I think most of what Pops gave me was his metabolism.” She pokes into her own stomach for emphasis while Luz squeezes her middle, this time shaking in laughter. 

There’s another topic bouncing around in Willow’s mind, but she’s not sure how she wants to tackle _that_ particular issue yet.

“What’s on your mind, _hermosa_?”

Well, she’s been caught. Might as well try to go about it in a lighthearted way.

Willow starts out by saying “Did you notice Amity wearing that leather jacket today?” with a grin on her face.

“Oh”, Luz’s cheeks darken slightly, and she turns to hide her face in Willow’s stomach as she murmurs “Yeah. She looked pretty hot in that.”

Before they had officially become girlfriends, they had sat down and talked out expectations to make sure they were on the same page. At some point Luz had nervously told her that while she wanted Willow to be her girlfriend, she also felt some sort of attraction to Amity. Willow was not really surprised, having watched the two grow closer over the months and recognizing that she herself could still see the attractive appeal of her ex-girlfriend despite how things had gone between the two.

“Mmhmm. A girl in a leather jacket. A weakness of every sapphic out there.” She chuckles lightly.

Willow thinks Amity would probably kill the two of them if she knew the girls talked about her like this, but it would be more out of embarrassment than anything else. She ponders how to steer the conversation in the direction she wants when Luz does it for her.

“Man, I don’t know what her issue has been lately. I feel like I’m walking on eggshells every time we hangout.”

There it is. Willow is pretty sure she knows _exactly_ what the issue is, but it seems like Luz has still not put two and two together.

“I’ve tried talking to her about it, and she just acts like everything is perfectly fine!” Luz balls up her hands in frustration.

Willow reaches over to run her fingers through Luz’s hair, comforting the girl as best she can. _Yeah, that sounds just like_ _Amity_ , she thinks to herself. The absolute queen of refusing to talk about things bothering her, _especially_ messy feelings.

She decided that maybe Luz just needed more time to figure things out and deflects the conversation. “Eh, maybe she’s just been stuck in one of her bitchy moods. Oh, didn’t you have something you wanted to show me tonight?”

“Oh!” Luz lights up, then rolls out of the bed with a _thump_ onto the floor. She scurries over to her bag and rummages around until she pulls out a stack of papers and haphazardly dumps them on Willow’s desk.

“Come ‘ere!” She takes one of the larger papers and unfurls it, spreading it out, “Take a look at this!”

Willow comes over to take a look at what appears to be a map, with a bright red circle marking some sort of mountainous area.

“I finally got Eda to stop fucking around and be more serious about helping me look for places to find glyphs. We think we found a new site where the old witches used to gather together up in the mountainside. It is supposed to be some sort of cave system that they used for travel through the mountain – and supposedly to perform special rites away from ‘prying eyes’ of the non-magics.”

“Okay, so what’s the plan here?”

“Well…I was thinking, group hiking trip? Me, you, Eda, Gus, Amity – if we can get her to agree to it. Four or five of us should be able to tackle exploring the cave system; it was abandoned a long time ago. We’ve got that break from school coming up soon so that’ll give us some time to make the trip.”

Willow pretends to think about it for moment, before nodding in agreement. “Well, if you can get everyone to agree to it, I’ll come along.” She knocks her shoulder against her playfully.

Luz bounces excitedly, happy at her girlfriend’s answer.

“Alright, I think we should finally do some homework”

Luz just groans in response.

 _Well, a trip like this could be interesting._ Willow mused as they settled down with their work for the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent far too long thinking about names for Willow's dads, which delayed this story a lot. They'll get their real names someday.
> 
> This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fic, comments are greatly appreciated!


	2. Pursuing your Neighborhood Pyro

Luz shifts around, growling as she felt a something jab her in the side. This damn old couch could be such a curse. All she wanted was a little more sleep, but it seemed like the furniture just wanted to fight her this morning.

She resigns herself to waking up, sitting up to untangle herself from several blankets that she had buried herself under last night (curse Eda and her refusal to properly heat her own house).

The girl takes a moment to stretch out her limbs and back, enjoying the satisfying sound and sensation of her joints cracking. After working on her shoulder, she pulls her arms in to flex them proudly for herself. Between working for Eda and fighting with the gang, she had really started to build some muscle. Something Luz from a year ago would have never thought possible, or her dumb old bullies who told her that she would always be a twig.

_Who’s scrawny now, dumbasses?_

Honestly, past-Luz would probably think she was lying if she could tell her everything that had happened in the last six months. Accidentally discovering a magical world hidden in plain sight? Convincing a crazy-ass witch to train her, who also just lets her pass out on the couch when her mom was busy at work? Getting friends who beat-up monsters with her _and_ getting a super cool girlfriend too? 

Luz gets distracted from her inner monologue by a growling coming from somewhere in her middle. Oh yeah. She last ate last night with Willow and her parents, but that was forever and a day ago.

From the couch she can lean over just enough to get a view into the kitchen. On one of the counters was a food container – she could see one of the muffins her mom had dropped off after a visit the other day.

_Score!_

As she made the move to acquire her target, she caught the tell-tale sound of clawed feet tapping along the floor from somewhere in the house. She narrows her eyes suspiciously, before dropping down to the floor as quietly as possible.

Luz creeps towards the muffin, her brain helpfully supplying her with her own stealth music. She makes it into the kitchen without incidence and thinks to herself, _almost there._

And that was the moment something rams into her side and knocks her face-flat onto the kitchen floor.

“ _I_ want the last muffin! The King deserves it!”

Luz comes to her senses quickly enough to roll over and grab fistfuls of tan fur. The little demon makes an enraged sound as she attempts to hold him in place.

“King! _My_ mom made them, so I get the last one!”

“No! Mine!”

So her morning starts off with a scuffle with a little weird dog-deer demon thing, all over a single blueberry muffin.

Eventually she gets fed up with his claws ripping holes into her pajama shirt and pins him to the floor using his good horn. He ends up flailing his limbs as he throws a fit, which Luz may have found cute if he wasn’t being so annoying this morning.

Then Eda walks in, looking thoroughly unamused.

“You two woke me up…because of a stupid muffin.” She murmurs, pinching her nose in frustration.

Luz releases King and tries her best to not look guilty as he scampers off. “Sorry, Eda. Hunger brings out the worst in all of us.”

The older woman looks at her seriously but quickly breaks off into a laugh. “Kid, I’m used to this by now. I always forget to leave two for both of you…must be old age, and all that.”

The teen decides she should at least do the decent thing, and grabs the muffin and cuts it in half for her and King. He accepts it begrudgingly, with some mumbling under his breath, but it seems like he’s satisfied.

She takes the time to enjoy the rest of the baked good, quietly observing Eda sitting across from her, sipping at that witch cider drink of hers.

“Soooo…have you got your little friends to agree to go on this trip of yours?”

The question leaves Luz staring at her hands as she sighs.

“Well, Willow said yes, of course. Gus, in his own words, never turns down the chance for ‘shenanigans’. The only person left is Amity, and she’s rarely answering my texts right now.”

“Ah, the Blight girl giving you trouble again? Not sure why you would even want her on this trip – remember when she set part of the forest on fire? Doesn’t seem like someone you would want to take into nature with you.”

“For one thing, it’s not like caves are super flammable once we get through the hike, and for another, the forest fire was an accident that she felt super bad about!” She answers, crossing her arms.

Her mind immediately falls into that particular memory. 

***********

The youngest Blight had gotten into a fight with her mom and stormed off into the forest. A particularly strong emotional burst had caused the girl to produce uncontrolled flames, which caught in the trees. A small portion of the forest burned to a crisp before the blaze could be contained.

The fire had confused the local firefighters, and no cause was ever officially given.

After the humans had cleared out, Amity had called Luz and Willow to come with her to visit the destroyed region.

The girl looked particularly small as she explained to them that she wanted to know if there was anything that could be done to help the forest after the damage she had done.

While Amity was explaining this, Willow had been occupying herself with examining the damage, cautiously touching blackened trunks and looking quietly at the black and grey covering the forest floor. When she heard the reason for why Amity wanted them here, she shook her head and told her that nothing could be done.

Luz watched in shock as Amity collapsed in on herself, falling down to the singed ground. The girl had shifted into her witch-form and her now pointed ears pinned themselves to the side of her head as she hid her face behind her knees. In a less-serious moment, Luz would tell her she looked like a green-haired hedgehog.

But this. The sight of her made Luz ache. Her palms itched, wanting to reach out to her, comfort her. Luz’s own feet held her captive, unsure of how to approach the distressed witch. Things had gotten better between the two of them, but she had never seen the girl like this. So vulnerable. Would she like it if Luz reached out, held her – no, no, maybe, who knows?

Twigs snapped as Willow approached Amity, the plant witch settling down in the ashy earth next to her. Luz could only look on in surprise – she would not have guessed that Willow, who typically radiated a ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude, would be the one out of the two of them to actually make the move.

She listens as Willow spares some gentle words for Amity, who was still hiding her face. Willow takes a moment to dig around in the filthy grass around her before she picks up something in her hand. The girl then gently grasps and pulls one of Amity’s hands towards her, easing her fingers open before pressing an acorn into her palm. It had somehow escaped untouched from the blaze.

Willow quietly launches into an explanation about how nature was equipped to deal with fires, that new life would quickly replace that lost in the flames. There was nothing to be done for the plants, because, well, they would do it themselves.

During this speech, Amity finally lifted her head up. She still looked upset, but not quite so severely. Her face looked unusually young. While Willow cradled Amity’s hand within her own, she swore she could see a dusting of color lingering in Amity’s cheeks.

A strange feeling grew in her chest as she watched the exchange play out. Was this like what the two girls had years ago, before Luz was in their lives? A glimpse into what the witches had been like before life had twisted them into the jaded teens they were now?

Luz didn’t know what to do as she gazed down at the girls huddling together, watching as Willow took off her jacket to place around Amity’s shoulders. Luz was stricken by how lovely the two looked in this very moment.

The feeling grew stronger, roaring louder in her chest. It wasn’t a bad feeling. But it made her palms sweat unpleasantly.

Her brain anguished, trying to put a word to what was happening to her. She wanted, she wanted-

***********

The sound of someone clearing their throat ripped her out of her thoughts.

Oh yeah. She had zoned out in the middle of a conversation with Eda. Oops.

“Back in the living realm, kid?”

“Yeeeep. Sorry about that. Anyway, I’m going to try and find Amity today and see if I can talk her into it.”

Eda gives her a thumbs up and goes back to her drink.

Luz hoped she had some luck on her side today. She might need it.

* * *

School was boring the whole day.

At least Luz managed to rope Willow and Gus into helping her stay on a lookout for Amity around the school. The Blight had so far been successfully hiding away from her, but the more people they had on the case, the better.

She finally felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out to read a text from Willow: _‘One unruly piercing-riddled princess, spotted in the athletic fields’_.

_Boom, let’s goooo._

Her fingers typed out a quick thank you, then added a message asking her girlfriend to meet her in the greenhouse after she dealt with Amity. She’s hoping for a victory kiss.

She gathers up her things and quickly heads out of the building. There is a fair number of students out here, but it doesn’t take her long to spot a lion’s mane-worth of green hair pacing around in the field.

Luz strides over to her, yelling out “There you are, Blight!”

Amity jumps and turns to stare at her, surprised that Luz has managed to find her out here.

As Luz closes in on her, she starts out “Look, I’ve got something to talk to you about-“

“Don’t care.” is the only thing Amity says before she stalks off.

Luz huffs and follows after her, then the other girl turns and gives her a challenging look before breaking out in a run.

_God, what is she even playing at today?_ Luz wonders as she chases the girl around the field, fighting to avoid stumbling over the poorly maintained ground and dodging other students who were just too used to these two’s bullshit.

They both knew that Amity stood no chance of outrunning the other girl. She was just being difficult for the hell of it.

Luz decided on a little payback for this nonsense. Once she was close enough, she tensed then _pounced_ , grabbing the other girl and forcibly dragging her down into the grass.

Amity thrashes, huffs, and finally growls out a “Ow! What the fuck was that for?” as she jabs an elbow into Luz’s ribs, making her wince. The taller girl takes a moment to rearrange herself so she’s draping most of her weight across the Blight’s back, hoping to deter her from wiggling away.

“You’re complaining, when you’re the one who is making things difficult for no reason?” She spits back.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why aren’t you answering my texts or anything? What did I do?”

Silence stretches on for a moment, before she gets an answer. “…sorry. My phone’s been acting up lately.”

It was such a pathetic, weak excuse. They both knew it. But Luz wasn’t about to call her on it, especially in the middle of a school field of all places.

“Look, I know you’ve been stressed out about something lately, but I have a favor to ask you.”

Amity groans, then tells her “I’ll listen, just get off of me, _please_. You’re too damn heavy.”

Luz shoots her a grin before she scrambles off her and helps the girl sit up. Amity takes a moment to look disgusted at the dirt stains on her clothes and Luz just manages to bite back the temptation to tell her that at least it wasn’t blood this time.

“Soooo…I was thinking, that for the upcoming break, maybe I could get the gang to come along with me for a little _adventure_. Me and Eda think we’ve discovered an ancient witch site in a cave system. Might be a good chance for me to find a new glyph or two!”

“…and you want to drag me along on this?”

“Yeah, I mean you might be all…” she gestures vaguely at all of Amity “…but you’re one of us, and you’re also like, one of the most powerful witches I know. Willow and Gus have already agreed, and Eda will be there too for some extra support…”

Amity closes her eyes and hums like she’s mulling it over.

Too bad for Luz that the other girl catches her off guard by reaching over and yanking her beanie down over her eyes.

“GAH!” and she can hear Amity’s laughter, a pleasing sound that had become rare lately.

She fixes her beanie, peaking out to see Amity was now standing over her, looking far too amused.

“Yeah, I’ll come along. I’ll probably have to give my parents some dumb reason, but it’s better than sitting around while you guys are gone.”

Luz is sure she’s giving Amity her biggest, dumbest smile. It’s making her cheeks ache.

“Cool, I’ll get more details to you later.”

It seems that Amity takes that as her cue to leave, as she just nods with a “See you later” before starting to walk towards the school parking lot.

“…and actually pack your own things this time!” Luz yells at her retreating back.

Amity just turns around mid-walk to stick her tongue out at her as an answer before she continues on her way.

Luz pumps her fists, imagining a triumphant song playing. She’s glad that for as weird as she’s been lately, Amity agreed rather easily to come along.

Time to go find Willow. She wants that victory kiss too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not always going to update so quickly, but I enjoy getting to write from a Luz perspective. 
> 
> Next up...Amity.


	3. Camping and Craving

Amity really wants her usual morning caffeine more than anything else right now.

Somehow, Luz’s eccentric mentor had ended up being the driver for their little ‘adventure’. Apparently, Willow’s car couldn’t be trusted with the several hour trip, Gus was too young to drive, and Amity’s currently banned from using one of her family’s cars. Eda is a pretty shitty driver, and Luz has to remind her several times that traffic laws exist for a reason. Who let this woman have a license?

At least the car is mostly quiet. The radio is off for Willow’s sake, who had drifted off in the backseat with her and Gus only about an hour in. The lack of music didn’t seem to be bothering Luz, who was rocking her body in the passenger seat anyway while she’s staring out of the window.

Gus is silently playing one of his handheld gaming systems, showing off the screen for Amity to watch. She wasn’t as well versed in video games as Luz and Gus were because her parents had claimed it was “mindless nonsense” growing up. Even if she’s not really sure what is going on right now, it was giving her something to do at least.

Eventually they wind up at a parking lot that lies in the outskirts of the mountain. Amity scrambles out of the car to finally be able to stretch out her limbs again, and she actually helps unload the various bags that everyone would be carrying on their trip up the mountain.

Eda turns around to face the group.

“Alright, kids. The goal here is to trek up to the cave entrance, scope out the area little, then camp for the night, as we have discussed previously. I don’t want to hear any complaints on the way up unless you’re bleeding-out or poisoned!”

“Uh…why would we be poisoned?” Amity asks.

“Have you met these two?” Eda points at Gus and Luz. “They’ll probably see some shiny berries, eat them, then BOOM, ill teenagers that I’ll have to keep from dying.”

The two teens crossed their arms with indignant huffs, but they couldn’t completely deny some of the dumb things they had gotten up to in the past.

Willow speaks up, “Don’t worry Eda, I won’t let them die of stupidity. Today, anyway.”

Eda spares her a wink and a thumbs-up for the effort.

“Time to get moving!”

* * *

The hike manages to be relatively uneventful, serving more as a nice chance to see nature than anything else. Willow would point out plants along the way that were native to the area, and pocket seeds when she could find them. Much to Luz’s delight, and Gus’s bane, the group even came across several snakes along the way. Thankfully no one was mauled by wolves or found poisonous plants for snacking. But everyone is a little tuckered out by the time they had made it up the mountainside to a clearing in the trees.

There is the cave entrance. It is a large, dark, gaping opening that would have looked otherwise normal if not for the signs that dotted its entrance, some of which read NO TRESPASSING and DANGER: KEEP OUT.

_Well, that’s not ominous at all._ Amity thinks to herself.

Eda waved it off, “I’m sure that they are just trying to keep out noisy people. Imagine if a bunch of humans wandered in there and found all the witch goodies?”

The teenagers glanced at each other, but said nothing.

Outside of the angry signs around the cave, the campsite is rather boring. Amity couldn’t help but think that Eda had hyped it up a little too much. Outside of dirt, grass, and a few rocks, nothing noteworthy except that the area is thankfully flat enough for them to sleep on later.

“Ah, it’s too fricking cold up here for me.” Eda complains, rubbing her arms.

“Old age making you sensitive?” Luz teases.

“Oh, sass from the lump that lives on my couch? I could change that arrangement.”

“Hey now! I know you’d miss your kickass apprentice...” Luz strikes a dramatic pose that looks like it’s straight out of some anime, “…and my mom’s visits.”

Eda holds her chin in thought, “Yea, I think I would miss Camila…”

The group drops their stuff on the ground and set about exploring the area a bit while under Eda’s command. There’s not much here that’s noteworthy, all things considered. Maybe that’s another reason why humans would avoid visiting this spot.

The chill of the fall air worsened, and eventually they had to go collect wood to start a fire. Somehow it had turned into a competition between the teens to see who could collect the most. Amity just used it to her advantage to have to collect less material of her own, even when she had to suffer the gloating from Luz after she ‘won’.

Now she is sitting on a rock, watching the same girl making pathetic attempts at starting a fire. Gus is sitting next to the older girl, cheering her on despite the lack of improvement over what seemed like twenty minutes.

Amity’s enjoying her free entertainment when Willow speaks up.

“Couldn’t you just…?” She gestures towards the pile of wood.

“What, and miss out on this?”

Luz is currently leaning back and clawing her face in frustration, groaning about how they made it look so easy in the movies. Gus pats her knee and reassures her that they probably won’t freeze to death, which just makes Luz slump in defeat. Amity feels a familiar affection for the boy, who is like the little sibling she’s never had.

Eda sweeps in and rescues them from fire-starting duty, complaining about too-slow teenagers and their lack of survival skills.

As the sun fades away, they use the campfire to make dinner. Luz had been put on food prep duty at her own insistence, saying she didn’t want to end up eating fire-roasted rats during the trip. Amity was offended at the very notion that she would ever eat a rat, but whatever. The other girl did live with Eda half the time, so maybe she’s seen some shit. In any case, the foil pack meals that she had made were…surprisingly good.

Afterwards the group spent time quietly sitting around the flames, listening to the sounds of the shifting wood and watching the flames drift away into the dark sky.

Luz suddenly perks up from where she was laying on her back, an excitable look on her face. 

“Oh, I brought a treat!” And she’s rifling through the bags again before she pulls out marshmallows and chocolate. “Smores! For the authentic camping experience!”

“Grade A dork.” Willow tells her with a smile.

Well, Amity would never turn down a sweet and she knew that Gus wouldn’t either, the boy bouncing in excitement already. Eda gives them an indifferent wave.

They cooked their marshmallows, Amity just sparing her own from being burnt. The assembled gooey smore made Amity hum in delight, while she tries hard to not stare at a chocolate drip that was currently gracing the corner of Luz’s mouth.

She was spared from her thoughts by a thumb coming to swipe the rouge chocolate away. Luz grumbles at the move, but her cheeks are darkened and Willow is looking way too satisfied next to her.

Eda gags at the display of affection, while Amity just feels slightly miserable.

Feeling way too full after the smores, Amity feels like she could drift off to sleep right here under the night sky. But it was cold, and there would be no protection out here from any wondering animals or demons.

The eldest witch of the group clears her throat. “It seems like it’s time to set up for the night. I’ve got my tent, and mister excitable brought one too. I guess you ladies are sharing the big one?”

Yeah, Amity had no idea why she volunteered one of her family’s tents for this purpose, knowing that she would be stuck with _them_ all night long. At least it would be getting some use, considering the family had abandoned camping after it fell out of popularity with the family business partners.

“You’re really going to just let Luz and Willow share a tent?” Gus asks with a quirk of his brow.

“Well I’m sure prickly over here will kill them if the two get up to anything.” She points a thumb towards Amity, “But hopefully she doesn’t make it bloody.”

“No promises.”

Luz just gulps nervously, while Willow maintains a cool indifference.

The tents are set up, and they exchange their jackets for some softer, warm layers of clothing. Gus and Eda bid the girls a good night before they head into their tents. Leaving the three girls to head into their own tent.

Luz takes a moment to set up a few light spheres while they arrange sleeping bags and blankets, peacefulness filling the space for just a moment.

“Do you mind if me and Luz share a sleeping bag?”

Amity tilts her head, pretending to think about it.

“Yeah I guess that’s fine…as long as you two behave.”

“Hey! We might be dating, but we have decency!” Luz fumed, but Willow just nodded and pat her soothingly.

They all settle into their respective bags, using blankets to add extra warmth. Amity undoes her hair tie, shaking her head a moment to let the freed hair settle down. The other girls have gone strangely quiet. Amity spares them a glance to see that Willow is laying against Luz’s side, and both girls are staring at her.

“What?”

“Nothing!” They answer in unison.

After a beat, Willow sighs and takes off her glasses, setting them to the side in a protective case.

“Let’s just get to sleep now.”

Then she witnesses as Luz’s hands grasp Willow and brings her closer until their lips met. The two melt into the embrace, smiling into each other’s lips. Amity wishes someone would kiss her like that. She feels…sickly?

“I have Eda’s permission to kill you!” She hisses at the kissing pair.

They break apart and spare her a glance with knowing looks. Amity fights the way her mind wants to admire the brilliant green of Willow’s eyes, which she rarely sees unhidden by glasses. 

“Aw…do you want a good night kiss too?” Luz mocks, flashing one of her signature grins.

She flips them off, rolling away from the pair. She hears someone moving around, and the tent darkens as light orbs are extinguished, until there is just a single one left. The person settles back down, and silence once again permeates the tent.

She tosses and turns for some unknown time afterwards, pushing against the inside of her sleeping bag. It’s just a tad chilly in here. She turns over to stare at her tentmates again.

It seems like the others had fallen asleep, with Luz spread out like some sort of liquid. Her loose hair lay wildly across the pillow, and her arms stretched out wide from the sleeping bag. The girl’s chest is home to Willow’s head, where all Amity can see is a mop of black hair. Willow’s arm is possessively wrapped around the other sleeping girl’s torso. The soft glow from the light orb coats them with a warm light.

Amity feels a sharp pang in her chest. She wants to drag herself over there. She wants to listen closely to the soothing sound of their sleepy breathing. She wants to be pressed up against Willow’s softness, wrapped up with her in Luz’s embrace. She wants their warmth to radiate into her cold, shivery body.

She shouldn’t. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

Then, as if she could sense someone thinking about her, Willow is stirring. The witch sits up slightly, blinking groggily as she peers around the tent, before her sight lands on Amity. Willow squints, then an amused smile breaks out on her face.

“Watching us sleep, huh? Kinda creepy Blight…unless you see something that you like?” Her whispers drip with smugness.

“The only thing I’d like right now is for you to get that dumb look off of your face…” She murmurs and turns away, hoping that Willow can’t see well enough to see the blush painting her face. She feels her ears burning.

_Dammit_.

There’s shifting and the sound of something being dragged, then her vision goes black. She just barely manages to push down a growl as she yanks off the blanket that Willow had tossed over her head. She turns back around to shoot the girl a glare.

“You look cold…” Willow shrugs.

Amity really hopes that Willow is joking, because otherwise that means she definitely saw her stupid red face a few moments ago.

_I could use something besides a blanket_ … she thinks to herself. No, no, push that thought right back down.

“You should sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be one long-ass day. Don’t need you like, slipping on a rock and breaking your arm or something.”

“I don’t break bones that easily…” She hopes Willow can see her rolling her eyes at her, “…but thanks.”

Willow spares her a wink before she settles back down against Luz, who, unsurprisingly, was still sleeping like the dead.

Amity wraps the new blanket around herself and sighs.

She falls into dreams of two smirking smiles…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Amity. 
> 
> Also-   
> Me: I love feral betas  
> What I write: slightly mean sapphics who are a bunch of softies for their girls
> 
> Oops.


	4. Not an Archaeologist

There's a chitter-chatter of voices outside the tent, and Luz can only roll over to groan into her pillow in annoyance. 

As the noise forces her to drift to consciousness, she realizes that Willow must have gotten up early and gone outside. Damn. Guess that means she can't sneak in some morning affection. 

Her ears register a shift and a sigh, which reminds Luz,  _ oh yeah, there were other people in this tent _ . 

She spares a glance at the other side of the tent, seeing the lump that would be Amity. The girl must have gotten cold in the night, as it seems like she's more bundled up than she was when Luz went to bed. 

Luz's sight moves up her sleeping form to settle on her face. The witch's eyes were still closed, and she looks peacefully unaware of the world. Luz can't help the way she sucks in her breath, because  _ wow, Amity is so pretty right now.  _

She's not really sure if Amity would appreciate being called pretty by her.

Trying to fight away the thoughts in her brain, she reaches over to grab Willow’s abandoned pillow. 

Doing some careful math in her head, she swiftly flings it so that it lands with a  _ thump! _ right onto Amity's face. 

There's an almost immediate reward of a muffled angry sound as Amity's ripping the pillow off her face. 

"What the fuck! Can you guys stop throwing shit at me?" 

“Hmm…” Luz rubs her chin like she’s deep in thought, “Nope!”

“Seriously!”

“Maybe it’s just fun to see you mad.” Luz winks at her. 

She takes a moment to bask in the disgusted look being shot her way, letting satisfaction creep into her grin. 

Once she’s done mentally patting herself on the back, Luz notices that Amity is looking particularly sullen, and she feels a spike of guilt. She contemplates what to do for a moment, before she decides to shift closer to the other girl, who eyes her wearily at the movement. 

“Are you alright? Look, I was just joking—” 

Amity just sighs and closes her eyes. “It’s not that, although I would appreciate not having stupid humor first thing in the morning. I’ve just been sleeping horribly lately and hate waking up.” 

“Oh...uh...wanna talk about it?” She offers. 

“You want me to open up to you, here, in a tent, in the middle of nowhere, where the others can surely hear us if they wanted to?” Her tone is painfully venomous. 

“Damn Amity!” Luz’s face scrunches up in angry annoyance, “I was just trying to be helpful!” 

At least Amity looks disappointed in herself. The green-haired girl brings up a hand to rub at her temples, letting out a frustrated sound.

“...I’m sorry Luz. That was uncalled for. It’s just been getting to me.” 

The two take a few moments to quietly take each other in, before Amity playfully pokes Luz in the arm. 

“You could find a nicer way to wake me up.” And all the seriousness of before fades away. 

Luz leans in on a hand, “Oh? What kind of ideas do you have in mind, princess?” She’s flashing a wicked grin at the other girl. 

Amity reddens and pushes the taller girl away. “Luz! I don’t think Willow would appreciate that!” 

Luz is just cracking up on the floor of the tent, much to Amity’s bewilderment. 

When the girl can finally catch her breath, she’s sitting up fully, cheerfully patting her hands against her legs. 

“As much fun as it is to bother you, we really should get up and join the others.”

“Ugh.” 

Amity sighs in defeat, and sits up with a huff. Luz stifles the laugh that threatens to bubble up at the sight of the untamed mane of hair surrounding Amity’s head. At least Luz is satisfied that she has gotten the girl awake, so she can finally start getting ready for what is sure to be a long day. 

When she finally makes her way out of the tent, she finds that the others are sitting around the burnt-out remains of last night’s fire, apparently having chosen to eat granola for breakfast over starting a whole new fire. Eda’s looking particularly unenthused about being awake, while Gus seems to be scribbling away in a notebook about something. 

She feels a familiar spark of delight in her chest when she sees Willow, who’s quietly contemplating some seeds that Luz recgonizes as being the kind she keeps in her pouch for fights. 

In only a moment, she’s at the other girl’s side, grasping Willow’s shoulder gently but allowing her thumb to trail affectionionately against the witch. Willow spares her a small smile with soft eyes, before refocusing her attention on the materials in front of her. Again, Luz finds herself lamenting the fact that she wasn’t getting her full dose of Willow lovin’ today, but at least she doesn’t have to worry about Eda making some embarrassing comment about teenagers and PDA. 

Luz flops to the ground next to Willow, wriggling for a moment until she’s in a comfortable position. She watches as the girl picks up the seeds and examines them thoughtfully. 

“Worried about something happening?” 

“Oh, I know something is going to happen. Somehow shit always happens when we’re all together.” Willow answers, deadpan.

“Hey, at least none of us have died!” Luz offers with a laugh, but she moves her hand to Willow’s knee to squeeze it reassuringly. 

“Kid, don’t jynx us before we’re even started the day!” 

“Sorry Eda!”

Rubbing her neck sheepishly, she turns back to Willow. 

“What’s up with all the serious looks you’re giving these poor plant babies?” 

Willow raises a brow at her, but answers her anyway, “Caves aren’t exactly teaming with a lot of helpful plant life. They tend to be full of fungi, and that stuff doesn’t always like to play nice with magic.”

“So...they’re just not fun guys?” 

Willow just stares at her wordlessly, and Luz makes a mental chalk mark on a board dedicated to terrible puns. 

She’s spared any retort when Amity finally leaves their tent, blinking blearily in the morning sunlight. 

Eda suddenly claps her hands together, and speaks with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, “Looks like the little Blight finally decided to join us! Eat some food and get ready, it’s time to get this show on the road!”

Amity looks grumpy about being called ‘little Blight’, but begrudgingly joins them anyway. 

Sometime later, the group is standing outside the entrance of the cave. Eda is leaning against the warning signs without a care. Amity and Willow are looking particularly solemn, and Luz wishes the two would chill out before she starts worrying too. At least for now she’s filled with energy, hoping that this trip would actually yield something cool and she’s resisting the urge to bounce with excitement. 

“Okay you bunch of unruly teenagers. It shouldn’t be too hard to get to the site.” She pulls out a map which Luz recognizes from their time pouring over old books. “It’s actually pretty straightforward. Parts of the cave system are more complex, but we don’t need to go that deep. So nobody has any excuses to get lost, especially because I don’t want to have to talk to any of your parents!” 

She waits as the teens nod at her before continuing on.

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, everyone should get their lights ready so that we can head on in. ”

Gus somehow ends up leading the way, apparently a huge fan of the various rock structures in the cave, using his phone to take pictures of each new one he saw. Luz, Eda, and Willow were following behind him, while making sure he didn’t accidentally go the wrong way or fall into a hole or something. 

“How can a kid find rocks so interesting???” Eda asks, exasperated, as Gus points out another unusual formation. 

“Gus just gets real into things, we still love him anyway.” Willow answers with a shrug.

Luz feels glad that Willow expresses the same sentiment that she feels. Gus brings so much to the group, and is one of the only people who could match Luz’s restless energy while bringing a bright optimism to an otherwise grouchy group of teen girls. 

Pulling herself from her thoughts of the younger boy, Luz glances behind them, where Amity continues to linger in the rear of the group. She’s considering delivering one of her usual quips, but she notices that Amity is glancing around at the cave walls and holding her elbows close to herself.

She lets her steps slow so that after a moment she’s level with the normally fiery witch, who only glances in her direction. She expects Amity to say something to her, but no words are spoken. Luz takes a moment to make eye contact with her just long enough to extend out her arm towards the other girl, glancing down at it so that Amity’s eyes would follow the motion. 

Amity stares hard at the offered arm, and Luz is amused by the way that the witch is clearly calculating whether she wants to take it or not. In the end, Amity just smiles up at her with a look of appreciation and Luz pushes down mild disappointment, but she’s glad the gesture wasn’t entirely rejected. 

Ahead of them, Eda calls out to Gus to slow-down as they are getting close to the entrance. 

It is pretty unimpressive in Luz’s mind when Eda finally points out the entrance, which essentially turned out to be a rock wall flagged by two rocks jutting up from ground. Yeah, she could see why humans would ignore this place normally. Eda is explaining how the entrance way needs to be opened in a particular way, which makes Luz perk up. 

“Oh! Do we need to like, perform some type of blood sacrifice to get it to open!?” Luz exclaims, weirdly excited about the idea. 

“Wh-what? Why do you always have these morbid ideas?” Eda pinches her nose, “It’s a witch’s place, you just open it with a certain spell!” 

Luz deflates in disappointment. That’s the least exciting magical key she’s ever heard of. 

When Eda finally gets the entranceway open, the teenagers are awed at the cavernous expanse revealed. 

The area would have been able to fit large groups of witches in its heyday, and it seemed like it was carefully carved into being as there were rock walls forming almost room-like structures within it. The walls are decorated with faded paint, old art, a scattered display of beauty that had long passed. The ground is uneven in spots, but perhaps that is due to a scattering of various artifacts along it. It seems like the place had been abandoned quickly enough that the old occupants hadn’t moved much out of it. 

Luz is hoping that somewhere in this mess there might be something useful, and that she didn’t just bring everyone to see some dusty old junk. 

“Since this area was magically sealed, things here should be pretty well preserved” Eda tells them. 

“Ooo, wait, do you think there are any skeletons here!?” Gus dashes off, with Amity and Willow chasing after him, probably hoping to keep him from angering some otherworldly being. 

Eda and Luz decide to methodically go through the different areas of the cavern, and see what they can sort out from the mess of items that are scattered throughout the area. 

It ends up being a slow-going process, leading Luz to kick against a piece of pottery that was likely once a drinking vessel, growing in frustration, then she’s stuck hopping on one foot as the toes on the other burn from the impact. 

At some point the other three teenagers join them again, Gus thankfully having apparently failed to find any bones to bother so at least that was one less thing to possibly doom them. They begin to help sort through the various debris, and Luz appreciates the extra help they offer, even though it’s still super boring to have to shift through all this crap. 

Eventually she asks Eda, “I guess we never really figured out why they gave up on this place, huh?”

“Nope! Sometimes these things just fade from popularity, you know?” Eda answers flippantly. 

“This place seems awfully extensive to just drop off randomly…” Luz murmurs to herself. 

She’s checking along the back wall of the cavern when she finds slates of old wood lying along the floor. They seem easy enough to move, perhaps they once made up something like small desks. She really hopes she doesn’t get some sort of evil magical splinters from these things as she starts to shift them into a pile. 

When she pulls up one of the larger pieces, she places her hand down against the layer of rocky dust only to feel some sort of crinkle underneath. 

Excitement thrums in her veins as she swiftly works to uncover what is apparently a set of unraveled scrolls. She picks them up and realizes they are in some sort of rune-y language, and groans inwardly at the thought of having to do  _ more _ translation work. 

Learning about the witch’s of old was cool and all, but it’s not exactly what Luz was looking forward to. 

Luz decides that she really just needs to be patient after she starts looking at a third scroll. Past the strange language sprawling across the page, she finally catches sight of a curved line. One that forms the distinct shape of magic she is all too familiar with. 

“Guys! I actually found something!”

The others come over to see what she’s talking about, but Luz pays them little mind. She’s staring delightfully at the new glyph, pondering what it might be able to do. Testing it would have to wait though, even Luz wasn’t impulsive enough to test an unknown glyph in an enclosed space like this. 

But still...it feels like the scroll is practically vibrating with magic, asking her to give it a try anyway. 

Luz realizes too late that it isn’t the scroll. 

The world rumbles, a wall splits, and everything is thrown into chaos. 


	5. Monsters Suck

Willow hated the fact that she had been right about things going to shit on this little cave adventure.

She couldn’t see anything. The cavern air is clouded with dusty debris from  _ whatever  _ smashed into it. Her glasses are covered in filth, and she’s hoping the others are not blinded from dust in their own eyes. 

Breathing in the filthy air irritates her throat, and she can’t help the coughing fit it brings on. She can distinctly hear some coughing and groans from the others, even though she is not able to see any of them. At least it sounds like no one got seriously injured from the surprise explosion. 

She needs to focus. She can hear the  _ thing  _ moving about. There’s a distinct clacking of multiple feet that move past her. The creature seems to be making some combination of wheezing rumbles and...squeaks...as it surveys the area. The noise that everyone is making seems like it’s riling the creature up, as it speeds up its turning around the cavern. It’s probably not the brightest thing in the world considering it seems to be too confused to attack any of them yet.

Eda’s voice calls out from somewhere to her right. 

“Get ready kids! Time to see what beasty decided to grace us with its presence.”

There’s a distinct  _ whoosh  _ as Eda performs a spell to clear out the dirty air. Willow’s not too familiar with the type of magic Eda is able to do, but Luz has mentioned that she knows a wide variety of spells. Air purification would be very helpful to have handy though - she’s going to file that one away for later to see if perhaps she can coax some plant to do something similar for her. 

Now that the air is clean, Willow wipes off her glasses, mildly annoyed at the new scratches on her lenses. Ugh, monster now, fixing glasses later. 

When she finally fixes her eyes on the mountain demon currently stomping around the land, she notes that it’s honestly not the ugliest monster they have dealt with, but it definitely is not cute. Its body is long like that of a centipede, with many thickly clawed feet, and segmented by some type of body plate with linings of fur. While the face of the animal is a grotesque caricature, with plenty of sharp teeth within its snout, it seems like this beast is probably some type of mole demon. 

Geez, Willow has only had to deal with the little mole demons that liked to sneak into her gardens. Those things were some annoying bastards, but they were not big enough to just tunnel through a mountain and they were definitely less feisty than the one here. She also knew that while they acted deceptively dim-witted, they were little tricksters. 

Taking stock of everyone else, she sees that Luz is stuffing her prized scroll into a bag they had brought with them for safekeeping. The nearest person to Willow is Eda, who looks just plain annoyed by the interruption of this demon. Amity seems to still be blinking her eyes against the dust, and she can’t quite see Gus from her current position. 

The creature finally decides to turn itself towards Amity, who’s squinting at it with irritated eyes. It lunges at her with a snap of its mouth, which she dodges with a jump. 

“Gus! Do your little distraction thing! I don’t want to light up any of the stuff in here!” She yells as she tries to avoid the snuffling and snapping snout. 

Gus must still be on the other side of the mole demon because she can’t spot him, but she hears his enthusiastic agreement. So does the beast, who turns upon him with a huffing snort. 

He tries to send some illusionary clones to get the monster to chase after them, but it plainly ignores them, and tries to take a bite directly out of him much to his surprise. He yelps and is off on a run to avoid it much like Amity was a moment ago. 

“Illusionary magic doesn’t work on mole demons, you’ll have to try something else!” Willow yells over to him. 

The shout causes the mole demon to turn and face her. Apparently this thing did not appreciate the loud noises they were making whatsoever. 

Willow has to be careful with her limited supplies, but they definitely don’t need to keep having to deal with the damn snapping of this thing. She takes out one of the bulbs she’s keeping in her pouch and lobs it towards the monster’s face. When it gets close enough, she targets it with a hit of magic, triggering it to open and wrap itself around the snout of the raging mole demon. 

Losing the use of its mouth seems to just piss it off more. Now it’s defiantly trying to claw them with any foot it can get into reach of someone. It’s like some stupid game they are playing to keep out of reach of the claws of the demon, which is now thrashing about. 

“Huh, I guess this is why they abandoned this place.” Eda says, holding her chin in thought. 

“Not helpful at all, Eda!” Luz calls out from somewhere in the cavern. 

“Don’t you guys do this all the time? Where’s the finesse?” Willow  _ wishes  _ she could sound as unimpressed as Eda does right now. 

“Like anybody here has that!” 

“Hey! Gus and I are plenty refined!” Amity answers, sounding like she’s as irritated as the creature is. 

“Amity, you ought to stop lying to yourself!” Luz responds playfully. 

“Guys! Are none of you focusing right now? I don’t want to keep running away from this thing!” Poor Gus sounds like he’s already exhausted. Considering he usually had his illusions fighting for him, this is probably not how he imagined a fight to go. 

“Normally I probably could take this thing out on my own, but I don’t know how those plates might reflect the magic!” Eda answers him. 

Willow thinks she could try and wrap up the whole creature, but the hold may not last long enough for them to escape especially if this particular demon really wanted to pursue them for disturbing it. 

“I’ve got an idea!” Luz calls out excitingly. 

Willow realizes that while she’s heard Luz, she’s strangely missing from her view. While maneuvering around another claw swipe, she finally catches sight of her, who, judging by the grin on her face, has apparently been having too much fun running alongside the wriggling beast and appraising the furry stretches between the monster’s armoured plates. She knows immediately what she’s up to. 

“You don’t need to climb every monster that we fight!”

“But it’s fun!” Luz answers, while taking advantage of an opening to rush in and grab fistfuls of brown fur. “Trees are too easy!” 

Willow can’t help rolling her eyes, although only Eda is close enough to witness it. She can’t help thinking about how it’s some miracle that Luz has never broken a bone or worse from pulling this stunt all the time. At least she gets to admire her girlfriend’s growing upper-body strength as she finds a foothold against the squirming plated monster and hauls herself up. 

“Ugh, is this really what she does when you guys are fighting something?” Eda pinches her nose at her apprentice’s shenanigans. Willow imagines that Luz is going to get some sort of talking to later about fooling around in a battle. 

“At least do something useful while you’re up there!” Eda calls up to her while dodging one of the swiping paws.

“I am! All part of the plan! I've got my glyphs, I’ll hit it with a few, then you should hit it with a blast!” 

Willow watches as she reaches the back of the mole demon, which arches to try and throw her off, but it’s not built for the motion and Luz manages to steady herself there easily. She reaches into one of her jacket packets and pulls out some glyphs that are too far away for Willow to determine which they are. 

Luz stuffs them into the furred crevice between the plates, the demon making angry squealing through the vines still restraining its mouth. She taps them in a quick session then slides down the nearest body plate, thankfully hitting the ground feet first so she can retreat quickly. 

There’s a gross crunching sound as ice erupts from the activated glyphs, traveling around the monster’s center until it was frozen solid. The mole demon has broken through its plant muzzle and is screeching painfully loud, making everyone cover their ears at the irritating sound. 

“Hit it Eda!”

Eda aims a blast of magical energy towards the frozen segment. When it contacts the ice, there is a sickening sound as the body of the demon is split in half from the force of the ice exploding. The screeching stops, and they are shaken by the thumps of the two halves falling to the ground. 

As peaceful silence fills the air, the group collapses too. Amity, Eda, and Willow sit along the ground, while Luz and Gus elect to flop over fully to just lay down.

“Are you alright over there, Gus? You seemed like you were having a hard time!” Willow is just a tad concerned about the boy. 

“I’ll be okay! Just need to...rest a bit!” Gus gives them all a thumbs up, although he sounds winded still. 

“Bleh, I did not plan for a ‘giant mole demon’ on this trip. I swear you kids attract the weirdest things. Luz is definitely doing extra chores for this.” 

Luz groans, “It’s not my fault that thing showed up!” 

”I’m sure all the ruckus we made going through the stuff here probably annoyed it. They have a pretty sensitive sense of hearing.” Willow reflects on the times that she had to wrangle the little mole demons demolishing the roots of her plants. Playing certain sounds would irritate them just enough to get them to come to the surface to be nabbed by the waiting witch. 

“Well attacking us did it no favors. Good thing it’s dead.” Amity says bitterly. 

“Amity! The poor thing was probably just trying to defend its territory.” Luz acts offended on the monster’s behalf. 

“...seriously? It was clearly trying to eat us!” 

“You think  _ everything _ is trying to eat you.” 

“...ugh, whatever. Not like I am wrong.” 

Willow watches in amusement as Luz decides to crawl over to Amity, and poke the witch’s shoulder. Amity’s eyeing Luz with suspicion when the girl sneaks another hand over to tickle her side. The tired witch is caught off guard at the tickle attack and laughs before she shoves Luz over, looking particularly red in the face while Luz just looks too pleased. 

“Lighten up, Blight. We’re not going to let a big old monster eat you. You’re way too important to us.” Luz tells her. 

Willow feels a happiness pulse in her as she watches the two. Amity’s failing to hide her pleased smile, while Luz continues to beam at her. 

“Ew, how do you put up with those two?” Eda asks her playfully, a knowing tone weaved into her words. 

Willow continues to watch them as she answers “...you get used to it.”

She gets up and walks over to them, before sitting down next to Luz. The girl turns to face her with a questioning look.

Willow wraps her arms around her and pulls in her for a hug. Luz makes a happy sound and squeezes her back, delighted at the show of affection. If there was a little less company around, Willow thinks that Luz should get a kiss for that clever plan of hers, but that’s going to be saved for later. 

“Teenagers are gross.” Eda comments, while Luz sticks her tongue out at her. 

“Uh, guys, not to interrupt whatever you’re doing, but I think something is happening!?” Gus calls out as he tries to scramble to his feet. 

While they have been bantering and trying to relax, they’ve been ignoring the corpse of the demon. There’s a red glowing along the the severed ends of the body, and it’s reforming into a new shape. 

While they all move to get back on their feet, the halves finish their metamorphosis, and they are presented now with  _ two  _ mole demons, still impressive in size but half the length of the original. 

“Really? Is this thing like some type of worm too?” Luz throws up her hands in annoyance. 

The moles don’t seem entirely interested in them this time, but they are huffing and squealing to each other about something. 

“Should we...do something now?” Gus asks with a bit of hesitation. 

It seems they have waited too long, as one of the mole demons rushes forward. They expect it to attack them, but the creature has its eyes on something else. It snaps its jaws around the bag that they had brought with them to carry back any of the things they had found here. 

Apparently now that they are shorter, these demons were able to move and maneuver much better than they were previously. It gave them a sort of cheeky snort as it turned and ran off with the bag in its mouth, its twin chasing after it as they both escape together out of the entrance of the cavern. 

“...what the fuck?” Is the only thing Willow can say to that. 

“Did that really just happen!” Amity yells, stomping her feet like she’s having a tantrum. 

“Ugh! Why do monsters suck so bad.” Luz complains while dragging her hand down her face. “That’s the bag with the scroll in it!” 

“Guess that we should go after them then!” Seems like Gus has recovered from the earlier episode already. 

“I really don’t want to, but it would mean this trip was a waste of time if we don’t try to recover that bag.” Eda considers it for a moment. “But the more we think about it, the farther away those things are going to get. Let’s go and try to follow them.” 

When they exit the cavern together, they can still hear the sounds of the moles echoing off the walls, and they are forced to follow the noises deeper into the cave system. Eventually they reach a point in the tunnels where it splits into a set of two distinct pathways. 

Eda contemplates the two paths. “It sounds like the demons have separated as I can hear sounds coming from both of these tunnels. We would split up, I’ll go with Luz and Gus, while Amity and Willow can take the other way. Be careful as we don’t know which demon is carrying the stuff right now.” 

The teenagers all nod at the plan. Hopefully fighting these smaller ones would be a little easier, even if they split up their fighting force. The groups move to separate and head down their respective paths. 

_ Oh boy, alone time with Amity. This ought to be fun. _ Willow can’t help thinking to herself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow update! I've been re-working some things with the story, and real life tends to be busy. Hope you enjoy!


End file.
